Portable pumping device

ABSTRACT

A portable pumping device includes a pumping operation portion that forms an inlet port and an outlet port and includes a pump encased in a casing on which a switch is mounted for controlling power supply to the pump. An accommodation case includes an upper cover and a lower base. The cover forms therein a container for a fluid and a supply hole communicating the container. The cover also forms a cavity for receiving the pumping operation portion for easy carrying when not in operation. When used, the inlet and outlet ports are respectively connected to an external device where a fluid is to be pumped out or a fluid is to be supplied thereto and the supply hole of the container to perform either removal of the fluid from the external device to the container or supply of the fluid from the container to the external device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of fluid pumping, and in particular to a portable pumping device that includes a pumping operation portion receivable in a case for easy carrying and the case also functioning as a container for preservation of used fluid received from an external device or fresh fluid to be supplied to an external device, so as to facilitate easy carrying and efficient removal and supply of fluid from/to the external device.

2. The Related Arts

An oil pumping device is large-sized, fixed, single-purpose machine. Although such a large machine can be moved by an arrangement of rollers, such a movement is often short distance for relocating the machine at a new and close site for carrying out pumping of oil or supplying of oil. Such a movement is also a complicated process and is hard to operate. For a long distance movement of the large pumping machine, an automobile is often used. This is still a very complicated and hard process for the pumping machine has a heavy weight and a bulky size. Although pumping devices of smaller sizes are currently available, such small pumping device only good for pumping out used oil, but not operable for supplying fresh oil to a device or machine.

Apparently, the conventional pumping devices or machines have disadvantages, some being briefly discussed in the following:

(1) Some of the conventional oil pumping machines are of a bulky size and thus occupy a great amount of space, leading to difficult of moving. Further, the movement of such conventional oil pumping machines requires special rollers and such a movement can only be realized for short distance transportation, not for long distance transportation, and such short distance transportation is still a hard and effort-required process.

(2) The conventional oil pumping machines require a reservoir tank for storing oil during the operation thereof and consequently, when the oil pumping machines are to be moved to a new location, the reservoir tank must accompany the movement in order to allow for operation of the pumping machine. This complicates the use of the pumping machine and may inadvertently lead to undesired environment pollution.

(3) The conventional oil pumping machines consumes a great amount of power during their operation and thus cannot be powered with a vehicle electricity system or a dynamo. This prevents the conventional oil pumping machines from being used in a site where regular commercial power supply is not available, such as mountains, farms, and seas.

In view of the above discussed drawbacks, it is desired to have a portable pumping device that overcomes the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the present invention aims to solve the problem that a dedicated, professional oil pumping machine has a bulky size that requires a large amount of space and has a heavy weight that makes movement difficult and only available for short distance transportation with great effort devoted thereto and also to overcome the drawbacks that the conventional pumping machines require an additionally provided, separate reservoir tank for storage of oil, which may lead to unusable of the pumping machine or cause undesired environmental pollution once it is left behind and that the conventional pumping machine requires a large supply of electrical power and thus cannot be powered by a vehicle electricity system or a dynamo and cannot be operated at a site where no commercial power supply is available, thereby imposing an undesired limitation to the application of the oil pumping machines.

To solve such problems and drawbacks, the present invention provides a portable pumping device comprising a pumping operation portion, which comprises a pump encased in a casing and controlled by a power switch and inlet and outlet ports that are provided on the pump and are respectively connected to inlet and outlet tubes for receiving and supplying a fluid, and an accommodation case, which comprises an upper cover and a lower base, the upper cover forming a container and a fluid hole and a vent hole in communication with the container, the upper cover further forming a recessed cavity for removably receiving the pumping operation portion, whereby when not in used, the pumping operation portion is received in the cavity of the accommodation case for easy carrying and when used, the pumping operation portion is removed out of the accommodation case and the inlet port and the outlet port are respectively connected to an external device of which oil is to be drawn out and the fluid hole of the accommodation case to carry out pumping of used oil or fluid, or alternatively the inlet port is connected to the fluid hole of the accommodation case and the outlet port is connected to an external device to which fresh oil or fluid is to be supplied for carrying out supplying of fresh oil or fluid to the external device. The present invention allows for easy carrying to any site for immediate operation and can be stowed in an automobile or an industry used machine or a vessel for immediately application of being powered by an automobile electricity system or a dynamo of the machine to carry out immediate pumping or supplying of oil or fluid.

The effectiveness of the present invention is that a portable pumping device is provided, which has a simple construction for easy to carry and being environment friendly, and can be received in an external accommodation case to be carried to any site or stowed in a vehicle or in various industry used machines or vessel in for example a farm, a mountain or on a sea and can be powered by a vehicle electricity system or a dynamo thereof to carry out immediate operations of pumping or supply oil or other fluids. Further, the accommodation case provides a container for preserving used oil removed from an external device or fresh oil or fluid to be supplied to the external device, so that pollution to the surrounding may not occur. Further, once the used oil is completely removed, a proper amount of fresh oil may be added to the accommodation case for being supplied by the portable pumping device to an external device. Or alternatively, the portable pumping device can be independently used for supplying fuels, such as gasoline or other fuels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a portable pumping device constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an accommodation case in which a pumping operation portion of the portable pumping device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is stored;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the pumping operation portion of the portable pumping device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the accommodation case of the portable pumping device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with the pumping operation portion removed;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view, partially broken, illustrating the operation of the pumping operation portion of the portable pumping device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the operation of pumping out used oil with the portable pumping device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the operation of supplying fresh oil with the portable pumping device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a portable pumping device that is comprised of a pumping operation portion that is of a design for being easy to carry and use and an accommodation case defining a container for storage of for example oil, either used or fresh, depending on the desired operation of the pumping device. A detailed description of a preferred embodiment will be given in the following. It is, however, understood that the following embodiment is illustrative, rather than limitative, for the true scope of the present invention, which will be defined in the claims that follow the detailed description.

With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, which illustrates an exploded view of a portable pumping device constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises a pumping operation portion 10 and an accommodation case 30. The pumping operation portion 10 is made in the form of a pistol for easy holding by a user's hand. The pumping operation portion 10 comprises a switch 11, two casing members 12, 13, a pump 14, an inlet port 15, an outlet port 16, at least one power connector 17, at least two couplers 21, 22, and at least two tubes 23, 24 (see FIG. 6). The inlet port 15 and the outlet port 16 are provided on the pump 14 and are respectively connected to the two couplers 21, 22 and the tubes 23, 24 for pumping out or drawing in oil (or other fluids, such as fuel). The pump 14 is encased between the two casing members 12, 13, which mate each other to form a casing enclosing the pump 14, to form the pumping operation portion 10 having a pistol like body to which the switch 11 is mounted and the pump 14 is electrically connected to the power connector 17.

The accommodation case 30 is comprised of an upper cover 31 and a lower base 32. The upper cover 31 forms therein a container 311 that defines a receiving space for fluid and a supply hole 312 and a vent hole 313. The supply hole 312 is connectable with either one of the tubes 23, 24 for further and optional connection with the inlet port 15 or the outlet port 16 for performing drawing away used oil or feeding of fresh oil. A surface of the upper cover 31, preferably an inside surface thereof, is recessed to provide a cavity 314 for removably accommodating the pistol like pumping operation portion 10 so as to allow easy carrying and operation with the accommodation case 30 serving as a reservoir for a fluid, such as oil.

The accommodation case 30 also forms a receiving space 315 in the surface of the upper cover 31 for removably receiving and retaining therein the couplers 21, 22.

Also referring to FIGS. 2-4, when the pumping operation portion 10 is not in operation, the pumping operation portion 10 can be set inside the accommodation case 30 for easy carrying. At the time when the pumping operation portion 10 is to be used, the pumping operation portion 10 is removed out of the accommodation case 30. With such an arrangement, easy carrying of the pumping device of the present invention can be realized.

Further referring to FIGS. 5-7, the pumping operation portion 10 is provided with the switch 11 whereby when the pumping operation portion 10 is held by the user's hand and the switch 11 is turned on, the pump 14 contained therein (see FIG. 1) is supplied with electrical power and is thus put in operation to draw in oil through the inlet port 15 and feeding the oil out through the outlet port 16.

The arrangement for drawing used oil is that the inlet port 15 of the pumping operation portion 10 is connected to the location where the used oil is preserved by means of the tube 23 and the outlet port 16 is connected by the tube 24 to the supply hole 312 on the upper cover 31 of the accommodation case 30. And then, the used oil can be drawn out of the location where the used oil is set.

The arrangement for feeding fresh oil is that the inlet port 15 of the pumping operation portion 10 is connected to the supply hole 312 on the upper cover 31 of the accommodation case 30 and that, with fresh oil stored inside the upper cover 31, the fresh oil can be drawn out of the upper cover 31 and supplied to the location where the fresh oil is to be supplied to through the tube 24 coupled to the outlet port 16. In this way, fresh oil can be properly supplied to the location or device that requires oil.

The portable pumping device of the present invention has a simple construction and is environment friendly for the pumping device can be stored in the case for easy carrying to any desired site and also for being readily stowed inside a vehicle or a factory, or in various machines or vessels in a farm, a mountain, or on a sea, and can be powered by a vehicle battery system or a dynamo to carry out an operation of drawing away used oil or supplying fresh oil.

The upper cover of the case of the portable pumping device of the present invention provides a container for receiving the used oil that is drawn in by the inlet tube of the pumping operation portion and fed through the supply hole defined in the upper cover whereby no pollution to the surrounding may occur. Also, there will be no such problem of forgetting to carry an oil reservoir tank to preserve the used oil. Further, once the used oil is completely removed, a proper amount of fresh oil can be fed into the upper cover for being further supplied, through the outlet tube of the pumping operation portion, to a device or location requiring the fresh oil. In this way, bi-directional operation can be realized with a single pumping device.

It is apparent that the portable pumping device can be dedicated to either supplying oil or drawing away used oil only.

To this point, it is apparent that the portable pumping device in accordance with the present invention offers at least the following advantages:

(1) The portable pumping device provided by the present invention is usable in pumping out used oil and/or feeding fresh oil and the used oil that is pumped out by the portable pumping device can be stored in the container formed in the upper cover so that no pollution to the surroundings may occur. Further, the portable pumping device of the present invention can also be independently used for fuel supplying, such as gasoline or other fuels.

(2) Based on the above described design, the portable pumping device of the present invention is provided with a simple construction and is also made environment friendly whereby the portable pumping device can be stowed in the case for easy carrying to any site and can be readily stowed inside a vehicle or a factory, or in various machines or vessels in a farm, a mountain, or on a sea, and can be powered by a vehicle battery system or a dynamo to efficiently carry out an operation of drawing away used oil or supplying fresh oil or fuel.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims. 

1. A portable pumping device comprising: a pumping operation portion comprising a pump encased in a casing and inlet and outlet ports that are respectively connected to inlet and outlet tubes for receiving and supplying a fluid, a switch being provided on the casing for controlling power supply to the pump; and an accommodation case comprising an upper cover and a lower base, the upper cover forming a container and a fluid hole and a vent hole in communication with the container, the fluid hole being selectively connectable to one of the inlet and outlet tubes for selectively receiving a fluid from the pumping operation portion and supplying a fluid to the pumping operation portion, the upper cover forming a cavity for removably receiving the pumping operation portion therein; whereby the pumping operation portion is selectively stored inside the accommodation case for easy carrying and the accommodation case also serves as a reservoir for storing the fluid to be supplied to the pumping operation portion or received from the pumping operation portion.
 2. The portable pumping device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising tube couplers for coupling the tubes and wherein the upper cover forms receiving spaces for removably receiving the tube couplers. 